VOL. 53, ISSUE 1 | JUNE 1, 2011
Student Newspaper of Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, since 1930
www.maceandcrown.com
Diane Dougherty Mace & Crown The solar decathlon houses will be judged Sept.23 through Oct.2 at the National Mall’s West Potomac Park in Washington D.C.
BRING IT ON
ODU AND HAMPTON UNIVERSITY TEAM UP IN SOLAR DECATHLON BY: DAVID BAKHSHAEE News Editor Students of Old Dominion University and Hampton University are currently competing in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon. The Solar Decathlon is a top-notch event that stimulates and challenges 20 teams on the collegiate level to design, build, and operate a solar-powered house that is energy-efficient, cost-effective, and appealing. The first Solar Decathlon took place in 2002 and has occurred biennially in 2005, 2007, and 2009. This year’s Solar Decathlon will take place Sept. 23 through Oct. 2 at the National Mall’s West Potomac Park in Washington D.C. Team Tidewater Virginia, comprised of engineering students and architecture students from Old Dominion University and Hampton University will be going up against other cutting edge designs from universities all over the country and globe. The stiff competition that Team Tidewater is facing includes universities from the likes of China, Belgium, Canada, and U.S. schools such as UMASS and Rutgers. “Competing with universities from this country and around the globe such as Purdue, Cal Tech, China, New Zealand, Canada, Belgium, UMASS, Rutgers, Maryland, and Florida is very exciting and an honor,” said Mujde Erten-Unal, an environmental engineering professor at Old Dominion University. Team Tidewater Virginia submitted their proposal back in 2009 and has since endured the long process of building a model of the design and submitting it to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. In April 2010, the team was informed that they were awarded the project. This was obviously met with much excitement. “To see it come together like this is a dream come true,” said Lewis Fisher, a civil engineering major at ODU. “This is the day we couldn’t believe would actually get here,” said Erten-Unal.
The solar home that Team Tidewater is building is named Unit 6 unplugged. The idea behind Unit 6 is to integrate solar technologies into an architecture that responds to its urban context and upholds the neighborhood appearance while dramatically reducing its ecological footprint. Unit 6 gathers its influence from passive environmental examples found in a variety of domiciles in the Tidewater region of Southeastern Virginia. The key features that Unit 6 consists of are separate mechanical core’s that concentrate the house systems in one place, keeping waste heat and noise outside, and a profound shaded balcony equipped for three-season comfort. Unit 6 also features photovoltaic systems and thermal collectors assimilated in the sloped roof that generates electrical power by converting solar radiation into direct current electricity using semiconductors. This is the first time either Old Dominion University or Hampton University has been invited to battle in the Solar Decathlon. The proposal to model and erect Unit 6 beat out proposals from some of the nation’s most commanding and influential universities. Carrying on with the mission and objectives of marketable, affordable and sustainable design, Team Tidewater has its sights on bringing home the trophy and being recognized as number one. The construction of Unit 6 is located at the corner of 48th Street and Powhatan Avenue on the Old Dominion University campus. It is estimated that the home will cost around $250,000 mostly because affordability is one of the linchpins of the project. “The biggest expense was the construction of the prefabricated shell that was pieced together in three sections and the slanted roof,” said John Whitelaw, an ODU graduate student and project manager. Haven Custom Homes, located in Pennsylvania, built the shells of the home and drove them down to the project site here in Norfolk on three flatbed trucks. The home will consist of one bedroom and one bathroom with the entirety of the house being 1,000 square feet. If any student wishes to volunteer and participate in the construction of Unit 6 and the Solar Decathlon, please contact Mujde Erten-Unal at (757)-683-4412.
SURRY COUNTY POWER PLANT
OLD DOMINION ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE PROPOSES $6 BILLION COAL PLANT BY: ISABEL AGOSTO Contributing Writer Old Dominion Electric Cooperative (ODEC) has recently announced that they will be delaying the construction of a $6 billion, 1,500-megawatt coal plant in Surry County, within the rural town of Dendron. ODEC originally estimated the coal plant to be operational in 2016, but on May 18, 2011 they announced that the plant is expected to start producing electricity in 2020. ODEC is an electric generation and transmission cooperative that serves 54,000 retail electric consumers. The cooperative supplies power for large portions of Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Washington D.C, and North Carolina. Due to the current economic state and uncertain federal regulations, ODEC has pushed back the start date of the coal plant according to an article released by the Associated Press. The Sierra Club, an environmentalist organization, has begun a campaign to prevent the construction of the coal plant. They claim that the coal plant will “further burden nearby areas already in nonattainment.” Dendron is located 18 miles from Williamsburg, and the airflow from the town goes towards the direction of Hampton Roads. The plant is estimated to spill hundreds of tons of CO2, and other greenhouse gases, into the atmosphere that will directly affect the quality of air in Hampton Roads and surrounding areas. The Sierra Club explains that the coal plant will add additional acid deposition, increase mercury levels in the already struggling streams and rivers, and contribute to the practice of mountain top removal mining. Environmental concerns have begun to cause local governents Continued to PLANT A2